On Thursday, August 29, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the cities of San Jose, Mountain View and Palo Alto joined the region wide celebration of the Bay Area Bike Share pilot program launch by hosting three events in Santa Clara County: San Jose City Hall, Mountain View City Hall and Palo Alto University and Emerson Bike Share Station

The public now has access to shared bicycles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at specific locations within the cities of San Francisco, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose.

The Bay Area Bike Share pilot is a part of the MTC's Initiatives Program and the Air District's Transportation Fund for Clean Air program, which tests innovative projects for their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Touted as a "last mile solution", the goal of the bike sharing pilot program is to make it more convenient for Bay Area residents to take public transit without taking their own bike on the system, and then use bike share bicycles to reach their final destination resulting in reduced air pollution in the areas served.

Learn more about the bike share system at www.bayareabikeshare.com, facebook.com/bayareabikeshare and @sfbayareabikeshare.